Part of the problem with the Pelicans is that by pretty much any measure, Jrue Holiday is their second best player. That kid is legit. People forget about him now, but he's an impact player when healthy. Last couple years he's averaged something like 15 points, 7.5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1.6 steals with 45%/38%/83% shooting. He makes a major difference when he plays. Unfortunately, he's had some injury trouble and this year supposedly feels 100%, but the team has a strict minute restriction until January for him. He started out at 15 minutes... then 20... now he's up to something like 25 minutes. He's averaging 22mpg and still playing really well in those minutes, but it's got to be hard for the team to get a good rhytm going when their 2nd best player can't play normal minutes.
Then the other issue is that Tyreke Evans hasn't played... he's probably their 3rd best player.17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds last year in 34mpg. He's a less efficient scorer than Jrue, but a big help for them. He's supposedly coming back on Tuesday.
Those two playing regular minutes should help them. They should start making a run in January.